Is Duncan evolving into a role player for the Spurs?

Lost in a little of the giddiness of the Spurs’ convincing victory over the Lakers was the continued evolution of Tim Duncan’s role with this team.

Duncan matched his career low with two points, hitting only 1-for-7 from the field. It marked the 12th time the nine-time NBA first-team All-Star has failed to produce double figures in scoring this season.

Before this season, he failed to produce double figures only 39 times in the regular season and five times in the playoffs in 1,147 games coming into this season.

Despite his struggles, the Spurs soundly defeated the Lakers and have seemingly evolved on offense even without much scoring from the player most consider the greatest power forward in NBA history. The Spurs are averaging 105.9 points per game — most by a San Antonio team since 1994-95.

Here are a few other tidbits about his Duncan’s early offensive struggles this season.

Duncan did something Tuesday he’s never done in his 14 seasons with the Spurs. He managed only two points in a game he didn’t leave injured. He had scored two twice before, but was hurt in both games.

The Spurs haven’t really missed Duncan’s scoring this season. San Antonio is 10-2 this season when he scores less than 10 points.

They are 36-15 in his career when he scores less than 10.

They are 7-8 when he scores five or less.

The last time he had two points was a win over Portland on Dec. 2, 2007. He missed four games after with a sprained ankle and bruised knee.

His previous lowest output when he played at least 20 minutes had been three in the final game of the 2004-05 season, a win over Minnesota. He played 29:28 on Tuesday.

Duncan’s last four games are the least productive of his career. He’s averaging 7.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, shooting 34.3 percent from the field.

He’s already had 12 single-digit games this season. His previous highs for single-digit scoring games came in the 2009-10 and 2007-08 seasons with seven each.